by James Kirchick

The accusation that Lindsay Graham is susceptible to blackmail is historically groundless, predicated upon the same flawed assumption most people held about gays at the height of the Cold War: that they would commit treason in order to avoid being outed.

The apology, which will take place next Tuesday in the House of Commons, is another step in a review the prime minister began last year into how to acknowledge the harm bought by what is sometimes called the “gay purge.”

President Obama’s designation on Friday of the Stonewall Inn in New York’s Greenwich Village as a national monument comes amid a push across the country to write lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people into the nation’s collective history, an effort that has been quietly underway for years.

“I believe our national parks should reflect the full story of our country, the richness and the diversity and uniquely American spirit that has always defined us — that we are stronger together, that out of many, we are one,” Obama said.